Tempest (1928 film)

Written byProduced byStarringCinematographyCharles RosherEdited byAllen McNeilDistributed byUnited Artists111 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguagesSound (Synchronized)
English IntertitlesBudget$1.2 million^[1]

Tempest is a 1928 American synchronized sound drama film directed by Sam Taylor. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. V. I. Nemirovich-Dantchenko wrote the screenplay and William Cameron Menzies won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for his work in the film in 1929, the first year of the awards ceremony.^[2] John Barrymore and Camilla Horn star in the film, with Louis Wolheim co-starring.^[3]

Preserved by two US archives George Eastman House and UCLA Film and TV.^[4]

The film is set during final days of Czarist Russia and revolves around a peasant who rises through the ranks of the Russian army ending up a lieutenant. His life is made increasingly difficult by the aristocrats and officers around him who are resentful of his progress. He then finds himself rejected by a princess he falls in love with and, having been caught in her room, is put in prison. There he is stripped of his rank, but soon after the Russian Civil War starts, and as a result of the Red Terror, the tables are turned.

• John Barrymore as Sgt. Ivan Markov
• Camilla Horn as Princess Tamara
• Louis Wolheim as Sgt. Bulba
• Boris de Fast as Peddler / Commissar
• George Fawcett as General
• Ullrich Haupt as Captain
• Michael Visaroff as Guard

The film featured a theme song entitled "Out Of The Tempest" which was composed by Edward Grossman and Ted Ward.

The film won the first Academy Award for Production Design along with 1927's The Dove as both were designed by William Cameron Menzies.^[5] The award was originally called Best Interior Decoration.

• List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)

• Tempest at IMDb
• Tempest is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
• Tempest at SilentEra
• Tempest at Virtual History